Geonoma divisa Moore (1980: 25)

Henderson, Andrew, 2011, A revision of Geonoma (Arecaceae), Phytotaxa 17, pp. 1-271 : 68

18. Geonoma divisa Moore (1980: 25) . Type: COLOMBIA. Chocó: N ridge of Alto de Buey, above Dos Bocas del Río Mutatá, tributary of Río El Valle, ESE of El Valle, 200–500 m, 8 August 1976, A. Gentry & M. Fallen 17438 (holotype BH!, isotypes COL!, MO!).

Plants 2.8(2.5–3.0) m tall; stems 2.8(2.0–3.5) m tall, 0.8(0.6–1.1) cm in diameter, clustered, cane-like; internodes 1.9(0.9–5.4) cm long, yellowish and smooth. Leaves 8(6–10) per stem, undivided, not plicate, bases of blades running diagonally into the rachis; sheaths 7.9(4.5–11.0) cm long; petioles 9.2(6.0–15.0) cm long, drying green or yellowish; rachis 21.5(8.8–31.0) cm long, 3.0(2.3–4.4) mm in diameter; veins raised and rectangular in cross-section adaxially; pinnae 1 per side of rachis; basal pinna forming an angle of 28(12–38)° with the rachis; apical pinna 27.3(21.2–34.5) cm long, forming an angle of 20(15–30)° with the rachis. Inflorescences branched 1 order; prophylls and peduncular bracts not ribbed with elongate, unbranched fibers, flattened, deciduous; prophylls 6.7(4.9–8.1) cm long, short, asymmetrically apiculate, the margins curved around the stem, the surfaces flat with dense, felty, brown tomentum, prophyll equal to and early deciduous with the peduncular bract, the surfaces not ridged, without unequally wide ridges; peduncular bracts 5.1(3.5– 6.7) cm long, well-developed, inserted 0.2(0.1–0.3) cm above the prophyll; peduncles 4.3(2.8–7.3) cm long, 3.4(2.6–4.3) mm in diameter; rachillae 5(3–7), 16.3(10.7–24.0) cm long, 3.0(2.6–3.5) mm in diameter, the surfaces without spiky, fibrous projections or ridges, drying brown, with faint to pronounced, short, transverse ridges, not filiform and not narrowed between the flower pits; flower pits tricussately arranged throughout the rachillae, the groups of pits closely spaced, glabrous internally; proximal lips without a central notch before anthesis, not recurved after anthesis, not hood-shaped; proximal and distal lips drying the same color as the rachillae, not joined to form a raised cupule, the proximal lip margins overlapping the distal lip margins; distal lips well-developed; staminate and pistillate petals not emergent, not valvate throughout; staminate flowers deciduous after anthesis; stamens 6; thecae diverging at anthesis, inserted almost directly onto the filament apices, the connectives bifid but scarcely developed; anthers short and curled over at anthesis; non-fertilized pistillate flowers deciduous after anthesis; staminodial tubes crenulate or shallowly lobed at the apex, those of non-fertilized flowers not projecting and persistent after anthesis; fruits 7.3 mm long, 6.5 mm in diameter, the bases without a prominent stipe, the apices not conical, the surfaces not splitting at maturity, without fibers emerging, ridged from the numerous, subepidermal, meridional, elongate fibers present, these coming to a point at fruit apices; locular epidermis without operculum, smooth, without pores.

Distribution and habitat:— From 5°25’– 6°16’N and 76°31’– 77°28’W on the Pacific coast of northwestern Colombia at 346(35–1500) m elevation in lowland or montane tropical rainforest ( Fig. 17 ).

Taxonomic notes:— Geonoma divisa is related to two other species within the G. stricta clade— G. longivaginata and G. ferruginea , both from Central America. It differs from these in its tricussately arranged, closely spaced flower pits. It is sympatric with both Geonoma stricta and G. cuneata , and shares some character states with these species, especially its fruits which are ridged from the numerous, subepidermal, meridional, elongate fibers present, these coming to a point at fruit apices.

Subspecific variation:— No trait varies within this species.

Figures

FIGURE 17. Distribution maps of Geonoma dindoensis, G. divisa, G. elegans, and G. epetiolata.